Norwich man Matt Peplow has been enjoying the sights and sounds of Brazil after travelling across South America to go to the World Cup.

He joined 20,000 fans in the Rio fan park to cheer on England on Saturday.

He said: “There has been an incredible atmosphere in Rio for the last week. There is a great mix of fans from different countries for every game.

“There were thousands of England fans on Saturday, they totally outnumbered Italy. It was a disappointing result but I’m optimistic for the next two matches.

Norwich man Matt Peplow (far right) is in Brazil for the World Cup

“I am now off to Sao Paolo for the Uruguay game.”

TV AUDIENCE

More than 15 million people stayed up to watch England’s battling defeat on TV. The audience for the 11pm kick-off in Manaus peaked at 15.6 million just before half-time, a 79pc audience share, with more than 13 million watching to the final whistle, the BBC said.

As well as those watching the game in Brazil on TV, many followed the game on social media. Twitter said more than 7.2 million tweets were posted about the match, peaking at 219,637 tweets per minute as Daniel Sturridge scored in the 37th minute.

FLAG

The flag of St George is being flown over 10 Downing Street for England’s matches in Brazil. It was raised after the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Saturday afternoon, and will also be flying for the matches against Uruguay and Costa Rica, as well as any subsequent games.

The late evening kick-off created a quandary for music lovers at the Isle of Wight festival.

They faced a decision between watching the game or the night’s headliners, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who took to the main stage half an hour before kick-off.

Festival promoter John Giddings installed large screens for fans to watch as many World Cup games as possible.

Ex-England goalkeeper David James said: “This is the first festival for me... So I’ll watch a few songs and then leg it over for the game.”